Hunters Creek Farmers Market

This farmers market still has very few vendors, or perhaps they were not all set up when I visited. However, I am more than stoked about the expanded produce selections here now.

I was able to score a beautiful bushel of Brussel sprouts here and that made me more than happy. Do you know how much Brussel sprouts costs at Publix? I got a very full basket for only $2.50. The produce people are square users, so you are even able to pay with a credit or debit card. Major plus!!

I asked where the produce is from, and I was told it depends on the item, however, much of it was from either Florida or California. Fine by me.

As long as they keep offering fresh produce, I'll be sure to drop by for more visits. In addition, cookies, the usual honey, soaps, jewelry, and even purses are offered here.

None of the other stuff matters-- I'm just happy to see the fruits and vegetables in my neighborhood!

Last Saturday, I wrote a pretty harsh review of the Farmer's Market. I specifically went today to see if it was a onetime mess up or if they were slipping in quality. I am happy to say that it looks like last Saturday was just a bad day. Below are some updates that explain.

Fixed: The produce people were back! Not sure where they were last week, but they're back in force. Picked up some bananas and gigantic peaches that look at the peak of ripeness.

Vendors I'll be trying out in the near future:
- Steve the Seafood guy: He's got all wild-caught options (no farm-raised stuff). A huge range of shrimp caught fresh from Del Ray, including some giant ones he calls "mini-lobsters". And his U-10 scallops were the size of a baby's fist and looked awesome! He's usually there every Saturday.

- The Pasta Lady: I think she is a re-seller, but I like the "all-natural" angle to what she's offering. She is there the 2nd & 4th Saturday of the month.

- Update on the salad dressing guy: Now they're selling locally made honey as well. I sampled (and bought) the Tangelo honey. Wow is it tasty!

Overall: Not only am I happy to see the produce is back, but the newer vendors are giving me additional hope. I'm already planning to go back next weekend to get ingredients to make a tasty Seafood Pasta.

This place does not exist!!! What a joke! Spent 45 mins driving around looking for anything resembling a market! Liars! Don't bother! Go somewhere else else.

The produce was nice but there were not very many vendors, maybe 5. Here's who I saw:

Produce: Awesome
Honey of all kinds
Bakery Goods: Yum, got Zucchini Bread and cookies for the kids
Dips and Spreads: Very large selection of dips and spreads and lots of free samples
Children's Clothing: Small boutique of kids clothes. They might have had other items but I didn't check this place out too much.
And a hot dog stand.

I walked over and brought the kiddos. It is situated right next to the playground, so that was nice. My only suggestions is to have more vendors. I would love to see some kettle corn, snowballs/snowcones and maybe a few food trucks?

Not sure who can help with that :)

It was still worth the trip as I got some yummy fruits and veggies, but it could be a whole lot more.

This small market was created recently and is still in its beginning stages, it's really unfair to rate it while it hasn't had a lot of time to improve and become larger and more prominent.

My initial review is 3 stars and I hope that it takes off and becomes a huge success we need more individual Saturday markets around here.

Lets start with the good.

The stand out for me was the guy with the locally made honey, and original barbecue rubs, spices and hot sauce. He embodies what I think a farmers market should be, a place with individuals sell there foods, products, recipes, etc.

There was also two booths with ladies selling home made baked goods. More on the sweet sides, I would like to see at least one of those ladies sell some home made breads. The seemed to be expert bakers and I think they could pull it off.

The okay portion of journey started by realizing just has small the market was. We saw that there were many people working hard to make it become a success. As will most farmers markets in Florida there where a lot of merchandise and craft booths, which I love the artsy stuff but when the market is so small it seems like it is suffering from an identity crisis.

There was a guy singing and playing guitar who was decent, and a woman selling flowers.

The produce seemed a bit disappointing at times. It wasn't anything exciting, they came out of a penske truck, and some of the veggies and fruit didn't look all that great, I should have bought some tangerines though they looked pretty good.

With a little more support, and some more vender's this could be a great Saturday market.

Here are some ideas of vender's I would like to see:

*A Bread Baker selling homemade breads

* More locally grown seasonal veggies that are not as typical as the selection they were offering.

* A vendor offering smoked meats and sausages

* handmade Pastas

* Cheese!

* Local Flavor - there is a guy who I see out on john young sometimes who cooks and sells Pinchos, I wish he would become part of this market.

I will go back and I hope that this market continues to grow and prosper. If you are in the area please check it out, the more patrons the more it has a chance to grow.

I was so excited to find that this Farmer's Market was here because we had some awesome ones by us in Atlanta, but it's no longer there. Bummer.